Polycarbonate (PC) nanofibers are prepared using the air blowing-assisted electrospinning process. The effects of air blowing pressure and PC solution concentration on the physical properties of fibers and the filtration performance of the nanofiber web are investigated. The air blowing-assisted electrospinning process produces fewer beads and smaller nanofiber diameters compared with those obtained without air blowing. Uniform PC nanofibers with an average fiber diameter of about 0.170 mu m are obtained using an applied voltage of 40 kV, an air blowing pressure of 0.3 MPa, a PC solution concentration of 16%, and a tip-to-collection-screen distance (TCD) of 25 cm. The filtration efficiency improvement of the air blowing-assisted electrospun web can be attributed to the narrow distribution of fiber diameter and small mean flow pore size of the electrospun web. Performance results show that the air blowing-assisted electrospinning process can be applied to produce PC nanofiber mats with high-quality filtration. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011